US backs Taliban HQ in Qatar

[Haris]

U.S. backs move to let Taliban open
headquarters in Qatar in the hope of
ending war in Afghanistan

Talks to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan could be on the
horizon after the U.S. backed a plan to let the Taliban open
political headquarters in the Middle East.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is likely to open a base
in Qatar before Christmas, The Times said.

It is hoped this will help facilitate peace talks which could
lead to a truce with the Taliban.


Talks: Formal peace talks to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan could be on the horizon
after the U.S. backed plans to let the Taliban open an office in Qatar

A senior member of the Taliban - Tayyab Agha - has been
talking on and off with western diplomats for the past year
but it is hoped this move will accelerate the process.

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is
understood to be backing the negotiations.

When the HQ is opened in the Qatari capital Doha, it will be
the first time the Islamist group has been treated like a
political party since it fell from power in 2001.

The Times said the Taliban wants to make sure its members
are free from harassment and arrest whilst based in the
city.

The Gulf state is believed to have agreed to let the group
have a base after Washington decided that it should be
located away from the influence of Pakistan.

The rarely-photographed Taliban supreme
leader Mullah Mohammed Omar

One diplomat told the Times: 'It will be an address where
they have a political office.'

He said it would not be an embassy or consulate but 'like a
residence where they can be treated like a political party'.


A general view of the skyline of Doha, the Qatari capital where the Taliban office will
be based

The diplomat said the network would not be able to use the
base to fundraise or to support the fighting in Afghanistan.

The news came on the day the world mourned the 10th
anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, including the 2,977 people
who died after Al Qaeda flew two aircraft into New York's
World Trade Center.

Also yesterday nearly 80 American soldiers were wounded
and two Afghan civilians were killed when the Taliban struck
a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan.

Talks with the Taliban after U.S. backs move to let the Islamist group set up an office in Qatar | Mail Online

[Haris]

Taliban to open its office in Qatar


The US has reportedly endorsed a plan for Afghanistan's Taliban militants to open their
"political headquarters" in Qatar so that peace talks with the West can be opened
away from the influence of Pakistan.

The office of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will be the first
‘internationally-recognised' representation for the Taliban since it was ousted from
power in 2011, The Times reported on Monday.

There was no independent confirmation but the frontpaged report comes around 18
months after the UK government first floated the idea two years ago.

In January 2010, in one of the last foreign policy initiatives of the erstwhile Labour
government, Britain hosted a London conference on Afghanistan, which proposed the
idea of talking to those Taliban militants who renounced the use of arms and swore
allegiance to the Afghan constitution. The meeting was attended by representatives
from 68 countries, including Indian foreign minister SM Krishna.

The decision to locate the Taliban office in Qatar followed Washington's insistence
that it be situated outside Islamabad's sphere of influence. "It will be an address
where they have a political office," the newspaper quoted a Western diplomatic
source. "It will not be an embassy or a consulate but a residency where they can be
treated like a political party."



Taliban to open its office in Qatar - Hindustan Times

[randolph85]

good news if this is true.

[faye]

it's funny to think of the taliban going to that spacy looking city.

[unknownprince]

good news if this is true.

Good? You think Talibs are going to suddenly leave Afghanistan to set up office in Qatar? And you think the reason they fight will change? They fight to get rid of the SU occupation. thats never going to change.

Major LOL, and major BS.

Yet another desperate and pathetic attempt to separate the Taliban which is now enjoying increasing support in Afghanistan, especially, in rural Afghanistan, from Afghanistan. ???

This is probably about the biggest piece of BS I have heard. Why, because they already have an office in Qatar, as well as UAE and some of the government in exile live there. This is not even news,

and who the heck are the US to decide who gets to open an office or not?

The fact is the Afghans will not accept their deal, and will fight until they leave.

There is nothing less or more to the aforementioned.

They can talk of all the offices they want, but at the end of the day, the only ****ters who will be opening up an office in the West will be those Kabul expat failures who will only run.